


It's Been A Long, Long Time

by pushupindrag



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Memories, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushupindrag/pseuds/pushupindrag
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve remembers dancing with Bucky back before the war.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>He remembers dancing to it, back when his heart wasn’t healthy and he barely reached Bucky’s shoulder.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>He had left the dance hall early due to the glaringly obvious disinterest of  his  date, leaving Bucky to take care of her, and his own date. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Been A Long, Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that the original song came out in 1945, and Steve was injected with the serum in 1943. But I've fudged the details of the songs release a little to about 1941 so that this could take place because I heard [this](http://greencrook.tumblr.com/post/80796534360) and had to write something about it. So I'm sorry for the inaccuracy.
> 
> Un-beta'd so any mistakes are purely my own, so please tell me if you find any :)

He remembers dancing to the song, back when his heart wasn't healthy and he barely reached Bucky’s shoulder.   


He had left the dance hall early due to the glaringly obvious disinterest of his date, leaving Bucky to take care of her and his own date. She was more interested in Bucky than Steve anyway, and Steve had tried not to care too much. He hadn't told anyone the real reason he left, not wanting to make the girl feel awkward or show how embarrassed he was, he had just faked a headache to get out of the situation and relieve the girl of his weedy presence.   


That was how he found himself curled into the corner of the couch after trudging home, cheap radio playing low, catching static every now and then while he decided which drawings to rub out so that he could sketch more in his ratty sketchbook. Not being able to afford a new one any time soon.   


He was humming along quietly when he heard the door, and watched Bucky stride in and take his coat off. He raised a hand, but dropped it when he saw the grimace on  Bucky's face.  
“What’s the matter Stevie?” He had dropped onto his knees beside Steve, ignoring the grime of the carpet, staring intently. As if he could detect any sign of illness just by looking. He probably could most days.  
  
“Nothing Buck” Steve had warded off, batting a hand at  Bucky’s face as the taller man had leaned in, squinting “Just a headache.”  
"You’re full of shit, tell me the real reason." Bucky snorted, leaning back on his heels to glare lightly. Steve didn’t know how, but Bucky always knew when Steve was lying. He guessed it was a by-product of them growing up together.

"I didn’t want to subject the poor dame to something she didn’t want to do!" Steve admitted, folding his hands in his lap, sketchbook forgotten as he got it over with. He avoided looking at Bucky, knowing he was going beet red. This was embarrassing, and it wasn’t like Bucky didn’t already know that girls didn’t want to dance with him,or even look at him for that matter. It doesn't take away the sting of the statement though, and Steve allows himself to feel a little bitter. It wasn't the fact of girls not wanting to dance with him really, but he was too scared to admit that it was more jealousy than anything. At that point, he hadn't really admitted to himself that the reason he felt the way he did was because Bucky was dancing with girls when he was the one that wanted to dace with Bucky.    


"Who wouldn’t wanna dance with you?" Bucky questioned "You’re the best guy around!"  
“You’re the only that thinks that Buck, come on” His face was heating up rapidly, unsure of how his best friend was so certain of what he was saying  
“Any girl would be lucky to dance with you” Steve hadn’t known what Bucky saw in him, but it certainly wasn’t what Steve saw in the mirror. He had missed the look that Bucky had given him then, one of unwavering adoration that he tried to pass off as admiration whenever he could.

"I’ll dance with you."  
“What?” Steve wasn’t sure that he had heard right, his heart was too busy pounding in his ears for him to notice.  
“I’ll dance with you, it’ll be fun.” And with that, Bucky had pulled Steve to his feet and started fussing over him. Not asking if this was  okay  (which it always was) and not seeming to give a damn if the window leading to the fire escape was open, meaning that anybody could have seen if they chose to take that route down a few floors, which did happen sometimes if somebody was sneaking in to another apartment. Steve never really paid them any mind, just shuffled over on the metal to let them past.

Bucky didn’t seem phased about what they were doing, in fact, he was smiling. As if he did this every day. Steve just lets himself be pulled and prodded, letting his mind wander a little to the times when he imagined doing this in a crowded dance hall, nobody batting an eye, because it was him and Bucky, and nothing seemed wrong about that.

Once his hands were deemed acceptable in their placement linked around Bucky’s neck, and Bucky’s hands were firmly on Steve’s waist, Bucky started swaying them slightly until a song started afresh on the radio.   


_ Kiss me once and kiss me twice _

_ Then kiss me once again _

_It’s been a long, long time _   


From there, Bucky led a sedate two step around the small room, and hadn’t tried to be subtle about the way he lent his head to Steve’s, resting their foreheads together with his eyes closed.   


_ Haven’t felt like this, my dear _

_ Since I can’t remember when _

_ It’s been a long, long time _

_ You’ll never know how many dreams I’ve dreamed about you _

_Or just how empty they all seemed without you _   


The song had swayed them closer, and Steve had gently tightened his grip around  Bucky’s  neck, pushing his face closer.   


Steve hadn’t intended to kiss Bucky, he really hadn’t. But he had done, just reached a little further on his toes to softly push their mouths together. It was like they had both been slowly building up to the moment for a while. There was no hesitation when Bucky kissed back, just a sureness to his movements as the swaying stopped. The kiss didn’t deepen, that would happen later after the two had sat and talked in the dim lamplight about how everything was going to be different, yet utterly the same. But the pair didn’t break away from each other until the song had finished, smiles full of the hesitancy that the kiss didn’t show. They were happy-   


 

"Steve?" He’s snapped back to the present by Natasha, who’s clicking her fingers in front of his face as they sit and the elegant bar among the party goers. Stark never did things by halves. He didn't know how the start of a song could trigger such a vivid flashback, but it had.  
“What?” He snaps back to himself, head swinging around, looking for any immediate danger  
“You need to stop zoning out, it isn’t polite in company” She’s smirking, so he knows she isn’t being fully serious.

“Sorry.” She doesn’t wait for an explanation, just shifts a little closer to him on her stool. Aware that his flashback probably had everything to do with Bucky.   


He was back with Steve now, which was the main thing. But a lot of his memories were still missing, and there were still days when he woke up thinking he was the Winter Soldier. It was just a little tough to deal with sometimes. He was regaining memories back day by day, but they were often related to the seventy years that he wasn't fully aware of. Some of the memories were about the war, and if Bucky was startled into laughter by one, it was most likely to be about the Howlies. Only a few of the memories were before the war, and those were mostly about Steve being sick, or the terrible conditions they had lived in. Not many of Bucky's memories were good, but some of them were, and those were the better days.

"You want to dance?" Natasha asks, pulling Steve up "The song’s barely started,"

_ It’s been a long, long time _

_Haven’t felt like this, my dear _   


"I think that’s my job" a voice startles Steve from behind, and he drops the redhead’s hand to spin around.  Bucky is stood there, smiling tentatively, looking just as uncomfortable in his suit as Steve feels in his. His eyes dart around occasionally, the room is crowded, and it’s far from what Bucky is used to nowadays. But he's there, braving it for Steve and that is all Steve could ever ask for.  
"I’de like that" Steve grins, and lets Bucky pull him to the make-shift dance floor. Ignoring Natasha’s quiet wolf whistle.

_ So kiss me once, then kiss me twice _

_ Then kiss me once again _

_ It’s been a long, long time _

_ Oh, kiss me once and kiss me twice _

_ Then kiss me once again _

_ It’s been a long such, a long time I haven’t felt like this my dear _

_Since I don’t remember when _   


"I remember dancing to this" Bucky admits, taking the lead as he sways them, hands still firm on Steve’s hips like they had been way back then. There was a small circle of space around them, as their recent bulked out figures seemed to create space that people  didn't want to interrupt.   
“Yer?”  
“It was the first time we kissed, I was shocked to say the least” He smiles down at the floor self consciously .  
“About little Stevie Rogers making the first move?” Bucky smacks his arm with his flesh hand  
“No dumbass, about you actually wanting to kiss me.” Steve can’t help but giggle a little at the absurdity of that statement. There had never really been a time in his life when he hadn’t wanted to kiss Bucky. “I’m trying to be nice here come on, cut me some slack” Bucky whines.

_ It’s been a long been a mighty long time _

_ You’ll never know how many dreams _

_ I’ve dreamed about you _

_ Or how empty they all seem without you _

_So kiss me once and kiss me twice _   


"It has been a damn well long time" Steve agrees with the song, bending his head so that he can nuzzle  Bucky’s face a little with his nose to illicit a laugh out of him. It works as he digs his nose into the crease of Bucky's eyebrows, giggling as it smooths out, and Bucky does it back, grinning. Nearly toppling the pair as he accidentallyhead butts Steve in his eagerness to return the gesture. He blushes harshly, retreating into himself until Steve pokes him out of it, beaming down at him.  
“I missed you” Bucky whispers to Steve, before surging up to kiss him. Nothing incriminating, but it’s fierce. And Steve can feel him flip off the wolf whistles coming from Natasha and Clint, who were probably responsible for the song choice, over the crowded room.  
“I missed you too.” Steve nods, mimicking their first dance, with his forehead against Bucky’s, swaying slowly to the music, truly happy again. No matter how they got there, no  matter what had happened or what the situation was like. He had Bucky back, and that was all that mattered.

_ And kiss me once again _

_ It’s been a long long time _

_ It’s been a mighty, mighty long time. _


End file.
